Another Reason You Should Stop Procrastinating at Work

You already know procrastinating isn’t exactly fabulous, and now research is backing it up. Students who hand in assignments at the last minute suffer a drop in grades, according to research from the Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom. It stands to reason this isn’t just limited to your college days and is probably present in the workplace, too.

The researchers analyzed final assignments from 504 first-year and 273 third-year students in marketing classes. A whopping 86.1 percent didn’t submit their work until the last 24 hours before the deadline, getting an average grade of 64.04 out of 100, which is around a B, while early submitters got around a 64.32.

That mark continued to drop by the hour, leaving those who waited until the last minute with the lowest average grade of around a 59, which translates to a C+.

This is one of those studies that reinforces what you know with some much-needed concrete evidence. When you’re a procrastinator, it’s easy to tell yourself that the thrill of a quickly-approaching deadline helps you reach your A-game. The study suggests that’s not the case.

Across the board, procrastination experts all say that “rush” you feel when you tackle a looming deadline is actually just a quick-hit of anxiety, and that procrastinators usually put things off because they’re scared of disappointing other people or themselves. It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy, though: you don’t give yourself enough time because you’re nervous about doing subpar work, but rushing is one of the easiest ways to ensure your work isn’t top-notch.

So, as a former procrastinator, I’ll tell you this: it is so much nicer on the other side. Having time to really fine-tune your work, or even better, sleep on it and evaluate it with fresh eyes the next day, is so worth the extra time it takes.

I know, I know: even I’m shocked by how much I sound like a mom right now. But science agrees with me on this one, so all you procrastinators out there, maybe it’s time to give the whole early-bird thing a try.